Maximum amplitude of mouth opening in systemic sclerosis

Abstract

Systemic sclerosis is a chronic multisystemic disease that is part of the group of systemic autoimmune disorders, rare, progressive, of unknown etiology. It reaches vital organs and perioral tissues, causing hypertonia of the speech organs, face with the appearance of a mask, difficulty in chewing, swallowing disorder and limitation of mouth opening. Objective: To measure the maximum amplitude of mouth opening of subjects with systemic sclerosis. Methods: A not randomized and controlled, exploratory clinical study. 20 subjects participated (10 of the study group with Systemic Sclerosis and 10 of the control group), of both genders, from the Rheumatology Service of a University Hospital. For the measurement of maximum mouth opening, it was used a digital caliper. It was checked the maximum interincisal distance in the front view. In this study, we chose the normalized index with values of 45 mm. The T-Independent test (p of 5%) was applied. Results: Most of the sample consisted of female subjects (90%), aged between 23 and 64 years old. The variation in maximum mouth opening was between 24,5 mm and 46,7 mm (an average of 36,7 mm ± 7,17), while, in the control group, the average was 46,5 mm. Conclusion: Significant evidences about the decrease of the maximum amplitude of mouth opening in the studied group when compared with the control group, highlighting the need to more studies in the area.